Thursday, February 27, 2014

DISNEY DAYS 1 & 2: HIGHS & LOWS

So I took a little blog hiatus, largely brought about by the great amount of action in my life. You can only do so many things, and blogging fell by the wayside. As a result, there are about a million things that I want to write about and not enough time in the days to write about them. So, if you see more posts than normal in the next week, that will be why - there is a backlog in my head. I do so enjoy writing about experiences, and it really helps me to process things.

I'm going to start with Disney World, because it was super fun, and I love looking through the pictures remembering all the fun we had. It's hard to believe that there were any lows at the Happiest Place on Earth, but real life follows you everywhere, even at Disney. Here's a rundown.

High: John and the girls and I had really smooth travel getting down to Orlando. The girls did great on both flights, and everyone was in good spirits when we arrived.

Low: As per our usual, we packed in a lot - in some ways too much. Our flight left at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning, and once we got to Orlando and got checked into our hotel on property (Disney's Port Orleans Riverside), we headed straight to Hollywood Studios. All of us were pretty tired. There was a bit of whining, though the girls were able to enjoy a lot of the park still. I mean - it's Disney World, after all.

High: Hollywood Studios had a lot to offer for the girls. They especially enjoyed Toy Story Mania, the Disney Junior Stage Show and seeing the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

Low: My mom, who was supposed to arrive early Thursday evening, had her flight canceled. She pushed through and ended up driving 2.5 hours to another city to catch a different flight and made it late Thursday night.

High: Friday morning, we headed to DownTown Disney to go to the Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique. (There is one in the castle at Magic Kingdom, but it was all booked.) DownTown Disney is it's own brand of fun, and we especially enjoyed the Lego Store with giant Disney Lego structures all around it.

Low: While we were at the BBBoutique, I was on the phone scheduling a doctor's appointment for William whose fever was continuing to spike and who was developing other symptoms. While I was on the phone, Lily picked the "Pop Princess" hair package, which would have given her a mass of feathers and pink hair extensions. I did end up intervening, because I knew she really didn't understand, and we did end up with the "Fairy Tale Princess" look instead. Because that feels much more appropriate for a five year old.

High: The Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique was so fun! After Bella's initial reluctance to get in the chair, she hopped in and started getting gelled up. The "Fairy Godmothers in Training" use SO much gel and SO much hair spray to get girls' hair into the cute little buns. They also did nails and a little makeup and ended the process by sprinkling pixie dust sparkles into their hair. I noticed today that though Lily has bathed twice since then, some sparkles are still clinging to her scalp.

High: We headed to Epcot and went straight to our Princess Lunch in Norway. We got to meet Belle, Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella, and they were all so nice and so in character. I was way impressed with every character we met and their ability to interact with the girls. Plus, our lunch was delicious.

High: I love Epcot - I always wish it was that easy to travel around the world, and I appreciate all the details that Disney adds to make the countries feel authentic. I also could do an entire post on Disney topiaries. They are adorable.

Low: Bella was a bit hit or miss with the characters for the whole trip. So many of them she loved, but then at other moments, for reasons only known to Bella, she would flip out. She missed getting to see Mickey and friends at Epcot.

Low: While we were at Epcot, we got the news that William had needed a chest x-ray and had a touch of pneumonia. Then, we heard that our friend Becci who was heading to meet up with us that night had all of her flights delayed and may not make it. Mom and I stopped and prayed for everyone, because none of that is fun news to receive. Thankfully, Becci made it, though incredibly late at night. William was put on antibiotics and started on the upswing, and Violet only ever had a fever. Things turned out all right, but there were some stressful moments.